Ottomans
Europa Universalis IV starts on November 11th 1444, the day after the victory over the Christian alliance at Varna. They begin owning most of Anatolia and the southern Balkans. For new players, the early game will likely be focused on consolidating the country's position in those regions. Internally, the country is divided between the Orthodox and Sunni faiths. Economically, they hold the majority of the Constantinople node trade power with very easy access to the rest. In the Balkans, the important trade center of Constantinople and the region of Morea are held by the declining nation of and its vassal, . The Aegean Sea is controlled mainly by and hindering control of the Constantinople trade node. The Anatolia region is a home to several Turkish Beyliks. Further east, in the Taurus and Caucasus mountains, the hordes of and control some outlying Ottoman territory, and shield the from their historical rival the . To the south, historical and trade rival the control a sprawling trade empire that extends into Africa, while their vassal controls the holy cities of Medina and Mecca. To the west, the Balkan nations are ripe for the taking - is the only safe nation due to it being a march of which blocks expansion. Further expansion into the west is halted by and , while across the Adriatic, Italy is mostly protected by the Holy Roman Emperor and . The Ottomans have a unique government type named the Ottoman Government. This government is in many ways synonymous with the royal household, but with a harem feature that ensures that there will never be a lack of heirs for the Ottoman ruler. The Ottomans follow the Hanafi school of Islam. Ottoman Government The Ottoman Government is a unique government type with fixed dynasty and the following benefits: This government is permanently lost if the country is no longer muslim or if the government type is changed during the Revolution disaster or by revolutionary rebels enforcing their demands. Harem The harem helps ensure that there will never be a lack of heirs for the empire. An event triggers if the current ruler has reached 30 years of age and has no heir which allows the player choose an heir for the throne from a random list of three choices, being able to view their monarch stats prior to the choice. Pashas This government may assign a pasha to one of its states from the state interface, and the following modifiers will be applied to each province in this state: Removing the Pasha causes all the provinces in the state to suffer a local unrest penalty for 10 years. Janissaries Missions Practically all of the Ottomans missions revolve around expanding their borders. In the early stages of the game, many of the missions revolve around reclaiming the lands of Anatolia, as well as the iconic mission to conquer the City of the World's Desire: Constantinople or Conquer the Crusader's Last Bastion (Rhodes). Further missions will request the Ottoman Empire to expand and conquer the regions of Balkans, North Africa, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, as well as individual provinces - all to increase trading power in the spice trade and to unite lands against Christendom. Events Many historical events are the aftermath from the expansion and government reforms of the Ottoman Empire - such events can revolve around the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and the trade states of and , the left-over Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, enacting reforms that might not be popular with everyone, or suppressing nationalistic rebels. Decisions Administrative technology is at least 5 *Ruler's administrative skill is at least 4 *Has at least 50 administrative power |effect=*Lose administrative power *Ottomans gain the modifier Provincial Government System for the rest of the campaign: ** National tax modifier ** National unrest }} military power *Gain the modifier Devshirme System until the event ‘The Lapse of the Devshirme’: ** National manpower modifier *If Cradle of Civilization is not enabled: **fires the event ‘The Janissaries’ in 12 years }} Cradle of Civilization is enabled: **Has fewer than 3 janissary regiments **Has janissary units comprising less than 5% of force limits |effect=*If the country has the modifier The Janissaries: **Removes the country modifier The Janissaries *Else: **The Janissaries will not appreciate this decision, and some will revolt because of it.Custom tooltip for Yoklama: See the end of the Janissary Coup disaster *Ends the Janissary Coup disaster }} stability *Constantinople: **Becomes core **Becomes capital **Changes culture to Turkish **Changes religion to Sunni **Changes province capital name to Kostantiniyye *If the global flag constantinople_restored is not set: **Constantinople: ***Gains base tax ***Gains base production ***Gains base manpower **Sets the global flag constantinople_restored *Government rank becomes Empire }} Strategy The early targets should be (before takes its core here), (taking Constantinople) and small Turkish beyliks in Anatolia (before or conquer them). The Ottomans are strong so it's possible to do several wars at the same time. owns one province which can be released, easily diplomatically vassalized and later fed Syrian cores from Mamluks (with significantly reduced aggressive expansion). Qara Qoyunlu owns one Ottoman and one Syrian core and should be taken as soon as possible (best if QQ is in some exhaustive war e.g. with or Mamluks). Other early war targets are , or before Qara Qoyunlu will vassalize it (Ottomans has mission for it) and before or takes it. After getting these possessions, the major Asian neighboring powers should be already crippled and do not represent a threat. Ottomans can then conquer , , , finish Southern Greece and vassalize (missions for all of them). There is a seductive mission for conquering Caffa but it is advised to pick it only after the Shadow kingdom event happens, otherwise the Emperor will protect Genoa. A single successful war with ending by releasing , or may cripple this neighboring power and be a stepping stone to conquer HRE lands. However a strong European ally would be probably required for this war. France or Bohemia can often decide to ally Ottoman and help in the wars against the common enemy Austria. Another exhaustive war would be with Venice to take it and its vassals' Balkan possessions - these are essential otherwise Venice will steal the trade income from Constantinople and Alexandria. The player should be careful and have a bigger navy than Venice and its allies together. Convert to Orthodox Ottomans can convert to Orthodox in several ways: *The quickest way occurs prior to annexing any territory by sending a missionary to an Orthodox province triggers enough unrest to create a possible rebellion. Ottomans are sufficiently Orthodox to be able to convert by accepting the rebels demands. However, if this is done the Ottomans lose out on the decision to make Constantinople the capital missing 11 development points. The upside is that Constantinople will not need to be converted. *A second way to convert and securing the extra 11 development from the make Constantinople the capital decision is by conquering and at least two of the four nations of and , , or . After Constantinople is secured and the decision clicked sending a missionary to any Orthodox province with unrest below 0 will create a rebellion that will allow accepting demands to convert to Orthodox. Religious rebels generated in the province of Trebizond have the advantage of being able to force convert Anatolia while completing sieges on provinces. A rebel generated in Edirne or Kirkkilise are the closest to Constantinople and can force convert that province - which otherwise can not be converted until a combination of patriarch authority, an inquisitor and Religious ideas are taken. *both methods should be done prior to the annexation of the Anatolian Beyliks as the extra provinces will reduce the percentage of Orthodox. Note, there are two handicaps to this as reduced religious unity incurs a corruption penalty and initially Orthodox are unable to convert Sunni provinces. If the Dhimmi estate have low loyalty, revoking the heathen provinces granted to them will spawn zealots of the province's religion. As soon as the game starts, Impose New Religious Tax interaction from the Estate tab can be taken, reducing Dhimmi loyalty to 35. Many Orthodox provinces start out as belonging to the Dhimmi estate, and can be revoked after a year has passed. The Zealots spawned will convert every non-Orthodox province they occupy to Orthodox if the occupied province is not within a fort's Zone of Control, including Konstantiniyye after Make Constantinople the Capital decision has been taken, if the fort in Edirne is destroyed.. Zealots will not be able to cross the strait to Anatolia as there are almost always AI ships in the Sea of Marmara. They instead will march all the way around the Black Sea until they are defeated in battle by a nation along the way, or arrive back into Ottoman lands. The player can annex and send a missionary to the province (as outlined above) after granting it to the Dhimmi Estate, then revoke the estate ownership after a year if they wish to force convert Sunni Anatolia prior to switching to Orthodox Convert to Coptic Conversion to Coptic is done fastest by taking the 3 Coptic provinces Van, Yerevan and Nakhchivan from . Converting to Coptic removes the unique government type from Ottomans. However, all Coptic holy sites are easily conquered, so the Ottomans will get the benefit of the five Coptic blessings very early on. Give those provinces to the Dhimmi estate, and spawn 3 Coptic rebel stacks by revoking those provices a year later, after making the Dhimmi disloyal by asking for gold. Convert to Catholic Conversion to Catholic is also possible as the Ottomans. This can be done in an many ways however, the easier ways include securing either a Catholic province from , , Sayuda from the or waiting for to convert its province and then securing it. However, as the amount of Catholic is small relative to the empire it will take a several years of waiting as a rebel stack forcibly converts provinces. However, this can be shortened by utilizing Dhimmi revolts. Note, there are two handicaps to this as reduced religious unity incurs a corruption penalty and initially Catholics are unable to efficiently convert Sunni provinces. Form Holy roman Empire After being Catholic the Ottomans can be elected and take a lot of imperial authority by adding european provinces to the HRE then pass the reforms. Technology The Ottomans begin the game in 1444 in the Anatolian military technology group at level 3 for Administration, Diplomacy and Military with Feudalism embraced. Overview: * 60% Ratio. As a Sunni nation, Cavalry numbers may be up to 60% of a total army size, excluding artillery, before the Insufficient Support penalty is incurred. Note that this will be reduced to the standard 50% Calvary ratio upon conversion to another religion. * Anatolian units: see Anatolian land units. Early game Anatolian units (up to military tech 15) are superior to Western by 1 pip. Notably, Janissaries (infantry at military tech 9) have 1 offensive fire pip; the only other tech groups to get fire pips this early are Indian and Chinese (who have a much harder time embracing institutions). Conversely, Anatolian cavalry has no fire pips until tech 18, compared to 10 for Western. The Janissaries The Ottomans may have the event “The Janissaries” fire if their ruler is above 5 monarch power in any category and they have 50 army tradition. If accepted, the Janissaries give considerable military bonuses to the Ottomans for the remainder of the game. In addition to the extra power their Anatolian units have, the bonuses from the Janissaries catapult the military strength of the Ottomans far above that of their neighbors. However, accepting this event will additionally unlock the unique “Janissary Decadence” disaster for the Ottomans in 100 years. While the disaster can take an enormous toll on the Ottomans if left unattended, it is easily ended by taking the decision “Disband the Janissaries”, which removes the military bonuses. In addition, the disaster can be avoided entirely if the Ottomans ruler has above 5 skill in any category; a condition made much easier by having the Ottoman Government. As a player, building up the Janissaries as soon as possible is advised due to the considerable power it gives early in the game, and because the disaster is easily avoided by choosing an heir that disables the disaster. As a player playing against an AI Ottomans, it is often advised to wait to fight them until they disband the Janissaries and lose the military bonuses. Avoiding the Janissary Decadance disaster is made even easier with the ability to disinherit heirs without a skill above 5. Goals After Early Moves The Muslim Ottomans future goals revolve around the ability to Unify Islam which involves conquering holy sites (provinces) and being 100% Muslim. Post Decision Goals If the Ottomans have completed the 3 listed decisions they are likely the physically largest and most developed nation on 3 continents. At this stage the question becomes how big can the Ottomans grow. Rivals may include , , , , and . Suggested Early Ideas The needs of the Ottomans are fairly diverse and can be approached in a number of ways. Given that the Ottomans can release and do re-conquest for Syria/Persia/Iraq and also can diplo-vassalize Fezzan and feed it high coring cost north African land, taking Influence ideas that have both reduced diplomatic annexation cost and reduced aggressive expansion impact which can prevent coalition formation. Later Diplomatic ideas can be taken to more effectively reduce aggressive expansion by giving province warscore cost and Improve Relations so any AE quickly cools down. Administrative ideas are recommended as the core reduction cost can stack with the from Kanunnames. The lowered cost and maintenance of mercenaries will help the Ottomans to field a large force of mercenaries. If the Ottomans choose to go Orthodox, Coptic, or Catholic, Religious ideas may be a good choice as Deus Vult yields the Holy War casus belli making the acquisition of territories east or south of the Ottomans free from the use of diplomatic power. This is especially strong with the Coptic faith as it will yield even more coring cost reduction, and a casus belli with nearly all neighbors (among other bonuses). Administrative ideas may be required to manage the administrative power cost of coring all that land. The bonus missionary, missionary strength and missionary strength vs heretics will be of great help in maintaining Ottomans' religious unity. If Ottomans stay Sunni, Humanist idea group is usually the best option for handling rebels and fits well with an aggressive conquest style where Ottoman don't have time to convert all heathen provinces. It also gives provinces for the Dhimmi estate, which can be quite lucrative. As for military ideas, with Ottomans' tendency to often be at war and having high military tradition, military ideas like Offensive shine with good generals and siege ability. However with Anatolian troops being so strong early game even a idea group like Aristocratic can be helpful to put military points into other areas. Extra manpower, extra diplomat to annex vassals, keeping military traditions high and getting an extra siege pip are very good to keep the Ottomans as an unbeatable military force. If low manpower is a problem, mercenaries and Quantity ideas can go a long way. Achievements